Some apostates are more equal than others... (page 5)

freetosee

I was born into JW life. My parents were very extreme, and we were brought up seeing the world the WT-way. Always being told how lucky we are and what advantage we have over other (being raised in the truth, never smoking,…). Worldly people even school friends were kept at a certain distance. Our life centred on the KH. Everybody ‘outside’ will be dead very soon anyway. “The world does not have the wonderful unity we enjoy!” So the WT fantasy world was my reality. Is was one experience to realise the truth about the WTS and JW life. It was yet another to comprehend the reality of the real world, with all it's good and bad, and find my way in it. What I noticed when I was young in that usually the people we meat in service who became witnesses were the ones with many problems, suffering from depression and loneliness. The happy people told me to enjoy life and don’t waist my time working for my church. I remember talking to my sisters about this, complaining that there are so many difficult and sad people getting baptized into our congregation. -Not saying there were no fun people- but the WT literature is designed for people going through turmoil. So anyone can fall victim. Joining or leaving the WT has not much to do with stupidity or intellect. I fell down to many times finding my way through, I have no reason to look down to anyone.

Freetosee

XJW4EVR

I don't consider myself "more equal", and I was essentially raised in the "Truth." WHat I do know is that I don't take things at face value, especially when it comes to religion. In fact I have a certain reputation with the leadership of my church as being a person that will stretch them. You see I ask questions. I don't ask them in front of other people, nor do I say that they are wrong in those circumstances. I also don't correct every error I hear. Mainly, because people tend to get turned off by that. Think about do you want to be with someone that is constantly correcting everything you do or say. This is were tolerance comes in.

skeeter1

I was "brought up" in the "Truth" as a 3rd generation JW.

I need my non-JW family, which, except for one person, is not my immediate blood family or in-laws. I have no conception of what it's like to have had a "real" life or a "real" childhood. I learned everything for the first time after leaving the JWs- dating, sex, marraige, disciplining children, education, afterlife, medical care, etc. I felt like the "Jerk" learning rythem. Those who came to the Truth, have a "guidepost" on how to act outside of the Truth.

I do not "hold" anything against or for one group versus the other. I was totally duped into th JW thing earlier in my life. We all have our demons that we run from. It helps if we run from them together.

Skeeter

under_believer

Speaking as a 3rd-generation "raised-in", who humbly hopes that what he's posted has been of use to others:

I absolutely do not look down on anybody who chose to be a Witness. In fact, I've posted articles (see my post history) that highlight recent research that at least partially reveals why people choose to submit themselves to these types of control. It's not entirely free will, but more a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I struggled with whether I should respond to this post because it's obviously a troll, but decided that I couldn't let the accusation pass.

EDIT: To clarify, I was referring to the original post by slimboyfat as a troll post, not to skeeter1's post.

Kaput

But I must admit, that those who were brought up Witnesses and left tend to be smarter than us dummies who chose to join.

I don't think Dave Reed or Barbara Anderson are dummies.

Carmel

hey thanks slimy for elvating my status! Always wanted to "look down" on someone....Oh, guess I do that all the time anyway since I'm 6'3"!!

Living on a mountain side helps with the self esteem too!

carmel of the "mountain man" class who was "born in" but committed self-abortion 49 years ago

nowisee

i thought my father was a brilliant man. he was the one who became jw in the l930's, became "congregation servant", subsequently met and converted my mother and of course brought his children up jw. i sometimes wonder whether his conversion hinged more on political issues initially -- he was totally opposed to war and had been attending pacifist meetings before becoming jw. anyway, he was the one in the family who first exited the wts. guess what. maybe not all at once, but we all followed. so was he smart or was he dumb?

Narkissos

sbf,

No, my mother was never a Witness. My parents divorced when I was 9. My father and his second wife started studying with JWs a couple of years later. At that time I had been left in a (Catholic) boarding school while my parents were fighting over custody. I think my father hoped the "truth" (which was rather his new wife's idea at first) would help give a clean start to his "new family" -- his wife had two kids from a previous marriage, and they soon had another together.

I wanted very much to be with my father again but the "new family" soon became hell, not only because of the WT but it sure helped: the idea of a "divine order" reinforced my father's and stepmother's authoritarian tendencies to a rare extreme. After a few months my stepbrother, who was 16, found the JW meetings very boring. They tried to enforce it on him but he left home. I left home (to pioneer, but still in a clash) the very day I turned 18. My stepsister who had become a Witness too (and still is) left home very early to marry a JW (of a more reasonable kind). My father and her mother didn't attend the wedding because they had not approved it. My younger half-sister grew in a very abusive environment, cut off from about anything else (she was homeschooled, which is exceptional in France). When at 16 she decided she would never become a JW my father beat her up badly and locked her in the bathroom for several days. As soon as she was able to get out she went right away to the local justice court and an enquiry was made. Because of the "scandal" my father lost his elder's "privileges" but instead of taking the fading way out (he was not that much of a believer) he decided to climb the "theocratic ladder" again. He died two years ago and hardly knew his (so far) only granddaughter. That's my JW family (in short).

sass_my_frass

It hadn't occurred to me, but now that you put it that way, yes you're an idiot.

greendawn

Those that grew up with the dubs understand their ins and outs better than those that came in later. It's amazing how they got out and adapted to a world that they had no connection with while growing up.

Some apostates are more equal than others...

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